


empyreal paradox

by ithil_lome



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: D-wheels would make a terrifying invading force, Gen, Roleswap, Standard stays as per canon, and the commons would absolutely be on board to smash the other dimensions and 'build a utopia', or leave it as a surprise, still deciding if I should tag everyone, the others get rotated around
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26929573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ithil_lome/pseuds/ithil_lome
Summary: Leo Akaba steps into the machine. After all his careful preparation, he's finally about to see his beloved daughter again; he may not know why she appeared a dimension away with blue hair, but he's found her now and won't lose her again. They have a second chance, after everything, and all he has to do is keep her away from that boy -(a circuit fizzles, a variable slips. He misses the Fusion dimension entirely, and lands somewhere else.)Leo Akaba appears in a flash of light, and does not see his new house or lab, but an unfamiliar run-down sidestreet. On a whim he decides to investigate rather than immediately leave, and soon finds himself standing outside a fenced-off yard full of playing children. A green-haired girl in a blue dress laughs and spins, and -That's impossible, is his first thought, staring at the face he'd know anywhere, no matter how she wore her hair.This needs investigating, is his second, because they can't both be Ray, can they?Clearly this calls for a change of plan...---A set of almost-drabbles featuring an alternate universe where the dimensions get swapped around.5 things happening in the present day, +1 thing that happened a long time ago
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost-drabbles one and two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been working on another role-swap! Hopefully the plot bunnies are happy with just the two, or I'll never get anything finished.

[a ruined city, lightly charred, crossed with rubbish-filled canals]

Two cloaked figures lurk in an alleyway.“Any luck?” one asks his friend. (it’s important to keep asking, no matter how many times the answer is no. If Sora gives up on this...)

Dennis beams under his hood. “As a matter of fact — Yes! I was duelling this one Arcadia guy and -”

Three D-wheelers shoot by in a spray of gravel, whooping and hollering. Fortunately they’re so loud you hear them long before you see them, and everyone left in Fusion has plenty of practice getting out of sight in a hurry.

“Like I was saying,” Dennis continues, “I was talking to one of the Arcadia riders and it turns out their dear professor is more closely associated with Standard than we thought: there’s a wife, a kid, and a massive Duel School.”

Sora meets his grin with one of his own. “All right! Let’s round up Yuri and go get Serena back!"

(... hopefully a new lead and change in scenery do his purple friend some good.)

\---

[A colourful metropolis, skyscrapers gleaming in the light]

It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, Spade just won all their duels against Diamond, and the World Duel Carnival is just around the corner. Everything is right with the world.

Three friends laugh as they head for celebratory icecream, dreaming of trophies and glory.

For a moment Ruri turns back, uneasy with the sense she’s being followed again. (She still hasn’t told her brother, knowing he’d overreact. It’s probably nothing anyway.)

Ruri’s gaze passes over a cleaning bot rolling by, several strangers walking the other way, two classmates chatting outside a nearby card shop. Nothing out of the ordinary, just like every other time she’s looked.

 _I’_ _m imagining things_ , she tells herself as she jogs to catch up, _a_ completely average _case of the pre-tournament jitters,_ _that’s all_.

Busy poking fun at her favourite boys’ terrible taste in ice-cream combinations, Ruri doesn’t see the cleaning bot stop and turn to watch them go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This all started with me thinking that D-wheels would be really great for a terrifying invading force, so it's a real missed opportunity for Academia not to import any from Synchro.  
> Then I started thinking about how the Professor went around telling everyone the dimensional conquest was designed to 'unite the worlds and create a utopia', and how Synchro is the only dimension to have anything like the tops/commons split.  
> The commons would be totally onboard with overthrowing the tops when sufficiently riled up (as demonstrated by Shinji), and then if they found out there were three other dimensions filled with nothing but tops... the Professor would have a super-motivated dimension-conquering force then, wouldn't he? A lot of them would be harder to convince to stop, too, since they really did get the short end of the stick and wanting to redistribute resources to create a utopia for everyone is a pretty reasonable goal.
> 
> Expect sporadic updates. There will definitely be a full 5+1, and more later once I sort my notes out and figure out what bits to write up next.
> 
> I've had a lot of fun assigning roles to people (including extra legacy characters) so please feel free to ask about other characters! Orleave comments with other questions/comments/typos I missed. (I should stop posting things at 2am, probably)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost-drabbles three and four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not how #3 was meant to go but Yusho insisted on having feelings all over it so here we are.

[A run-down but well-loved kitchen, complete with crayon drawings stuck to the fridge]

Yusho stares at his cane as Crow plonks a bag down on the kitchen table. “Heard some more Arcadia rumours. They’re saying _Commander Shinji_ nearly got taken out by an ‘abomination with underwear on its head’, and something about terrifying man-eating plants that’s probably just the Black Rose again.” Crow has the angry-sad face he always gets thinking about his old best friend, one Yusho recognises from the mirror.

Neither of them is willing to stop chasing rumours, no matter how much they hurt to hear, because the uncertainty is always worse.

“Good haul today,” Crow is saying as starts unpacking, “And a treat for the kids!” Yusho looks up and sees – oh. Pancake mix.

As soon as it’s safe, he’s carting all his students back home where Yusho knows Yoko will insist on feeding them until they burst no matter what she thinks of him and his years-long absence.

(There’s an old D-wheel out back Crow has been helping him fix on days when his knee isn’t so bad, painted red like the _Shooting Star._ It’s not enough, but Yusho is sure she’ll love riding duels.)

(He still isn’t sure how to apologise to Yuya.)

\---

[LDS centre court, as the last sparks of an action field fade away]

Sawatari’s goons close in, intent on stealing Yuya’s pendulum cards, only to get knocked over like so many skittles by a sudden blur of blue and white. A second later the blur resolves into a kid maybe Yuya’s age, with a bushy teal ponytail and a huge grin. “That was awesome! Where’d you learn to duel like that?”

“You haven’t heard of You Show Duel School?” He must be the last person left in Maiami that hasn’t, how weird. “Aren’t you another LDS student?”

The newcomer just beams. “Nah, I was thinking about it, but I’d much rather learn from you instead!”

“Wha - me?” Yuya’s flattered, sure, but him? Teaching this guy?

“Yeah! Names Lua, nice to meet you. So, how about it Teach?”

( _Technically_ Lua is supposed to be infiltrating LDS and reporting back to Arcadia, and _technically_ when they find out he didn’t do that he’s going to be in a lot of trouble.

But Luca will absolutely love hearing about this new duel style, _and_ with any luck the Professor will like information on this ‘Pendulum Summoning’ stuff so much he won’t care Lua ignored the rules of his assignment! Win-win!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it happens the plot bunnies were not content with only two AUs, so there's a third one in the works... sigh.
> 
> Feel free to leave questions or comments, including any typos I missed. (This chapter was posted at 2pm for a fun change in pace)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
